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Brentford travel to Sheffield Wednesday today. Quite simply, it is a case of win or bust if the Bees are to have any realistic hopes of making the play offs that both Dean Smith and the club have been trumpeting about since the 3-0 loss to Brighton on Friday night.

As was noted in yesterday’s article, the realistic part of me knows that that a gap of 10 points between us and 6th placed Wednesday will be too much to overcome. Dean was quoted as saying that “Whilst there is still an opportunity…we will go for it.” whilst even yesterday the official site noted that, “The Bees travel to Hillsborough to face fellow promotion chasers Sheffield Wednesday this Saturday.”

Of course, I’m just the numpty on the terrace and should the Bees record what would be a 6th win in the last 18 games this afternoon then, theoretically, we could move to within just 7(seven) points of the play-offs . I am assuming, of course, that such a victory will come by sufficient a margin to start reigning in the goal difference of 14 that, effectively, makes up an additional point. From there, we have successive home games and anything could happen.

But before we even get to thinking about Derby and Wolves, can we do it today? Obviously one can only hope for the best and trust in the words of Dean Smith. With the squad back in their expected frame of mind on the training ground, is it possible we could avenge our last minute defeat at home to the Owls back in September?

That, Marinus Dijkhuizen’s final game ‘in charge’ of the Bees before our parting of the ways the following day, saw us stung at the death after Alan Judge had hauled Brentford back into it. It was a tough one to take in a game where referee Geoff Eltringham showed two reds as the Bees were caught short, pushing for a last gasp winner. Instead, we were our own victims of that period known as Jota time.

Alan Judge delivered a blow to Wednesday as our fans celebrated. Until the 90th

And it is that man, Judge rather than Eltringham, who could be the difference at Hillsborough. Wednesday’s interest in the player was well documented over the January transfer window with, thankfully, our man-of –the-moment staying put at Griffin Park. At least, for now.

I’m sure he’ll have a huge point to prove. Both for the Brentford fans and, likewise, his would be employers to show just what they have missed out on. There is a huge resignation amongst the Griffin Park faithful to the fact that this is only a short term stay of execution and, regardless, Alan will still be off in the summer.

He has the absolute ability to play in the Premier League and could quite likely feature in the Euro 2016 finals this summer. If, and of course we don’t know what has been said behind closed doors, a move is on the cards then much better to do it to a team that he knows will be in the top flight rather than making an educated guess now .

Of course, there is also the opportunity for Brentford to continue the rebuilding programme around a hard core of experienced players such as Judge, David Button, Jake Bidwell and Sam Saunders. Still, all that is a long way off and, at least if club optimism is to be believed, it might still be us pushing for the top flight in three months. Believe me, I’d love to be eating my words on that front.

The other news of interest for Brentford fans is the latest ‘giveaway’ from kitman Bob Oteng. This ever popular competition returns next weekend with Bob already promising that the Derby game will feature, “a sentimental giveaway with a crazy guessing subject.”

Fast becoming my favourite part of the week, Bob will be doing well to surpass his last ‘guessing subject’ – how many fouls Keith Stroud would award in our game at Brighton.

Whatever it is, he has nailed the season in two words – ‘sentimental’ and ‘crazy’. We love our Bees but only a few could deny it hasn’t been an emotional rollercoaster.

And with 16 games still to go, I reckon we’ve still got a few surprises left to come.

6 Responses to “Optimism or unrealistic on our ‘crazy’ and ‘sentimental’ journey?”

As always, a well written piece. You can repay the compliment next weekend when Thorne In The Side goes on sale.
Sheffield will be a hard game and don’t expect much to be honest. Hopefully this means Dean Smith has a six month pre season to prepare and build

Spot on Roderic, the Gravitational Waves certainly have the club firmly in their grip, and it’s all completely self inflicted. Phil Giles & Rasmus Ankersen have a great deal to answer for. Still look on the bright side, it’s all going rather well in Denmark ………………………………………
These two ‘Experts’ should either commit completely to Brentford or go.

One thing’s sure, anyone who thinks our season is all over is completely deluded. The priority now is achieving safety as soon as possible. The stats since Christmas make unhappy reading and we need to arrest this decline before confidence completely goes. It looks as if we’ll have to go into the loan market to shore things up – at the moment we are becoming quite a soft touch. DS has a job on his hands.

Totally agree Gordon. We now have a team shorn of fire power and confidence, the depth of quality from the bench has also been stripped away to leave us with less options. As mentioned in the article (and alluded to in an article from Judgy himself) he will almost certainly be off to sunnier climes come the end of the season, then it will be yet another rebuilding job. Its all well and good selling players for good money. I’m not adverse to it, and sometimes theres no choice. But….by selling your quality, its hard to find replacements (of course) but also by selling your prized assets, what does it tell the other better players? Does it show the club have ambition? What will Button be thinking? A balance is required